And in this, the seventh post in the series, we’ll be focusing on the automatic placement report in the AdWords dimensions tab:

What Is the Automatic Placement Report and Why Is It Important?

The placement report is similar to the search query report in that placements are the targeting lever you use on the content network to determine where your ads will show. This report is also similar to the search query or search term report in that it offers an additional layer of granularity to automatic placement campaigns in the same way that search queries offer deeper insights into search campaigns.

By looking at the actual placements (as in the sites that are running your content network campaign ads) you’re able to see which sites are driving profitable traffic and which aren’t – obviously with any medium where you’re buying exposure and paying for each click or impression this is invaluable, so placement data is definitely important to any advertisers running content network campaigns.

Another similarity between the automatic placement report and the search term report, however, is that they’re both providing data that you can get in the main section of the interface, but this report is offering you additional options in precisely the data you get and how you can get it. Like the search terms report, by pulling an automatic placement report from the dimensions tab you’re able to:

Customize the columns/data you’re shown in the report

Layer on additional segments like conversion or time-related data

Schedule the reports to run every week or month so you can have the same report queued up for use in your normal optimization process.

Being able to get this data scheduled to be emailed to you and moved into Excel for manipulation there is really critical for many more advanced PPC advertisers. You can apply a lot of the same data analysis best practices to analyzing placement performance that you would into search queries, and for those interested in digging deeper into their data in Excel the suggestions from the post on the search query or search term report are still valuable.

And of course, automating a lot of this work around data analysis would be valuable as well. (We offer a free buying guide to help you determine if you need PPC software and if so, how to choose a platform.)